10 Things Only Comic Book Fans Know About The Thing

The Thing is one of the most iconic members of the Fantastic Four, with his distinctive look and many catchphrases making him an instant hit when the team debuted in 1961. As Ben Grimm and the team celebrate their 60th anniversary, many fans anticipating their MCU debut may be looking back to the comics for some idea of what may come.

The Thing is a popular character thanks to his appearances in earlier movies and animation, but there is a lot about Ben Grimm that only comic book fans are familiar with. His story is much more complex than what it may seem on the surface, reflecting the beloved character’s own complex nature.

10 Ace Pilot

Ben Grimm is typically thought of as the brawn of the Fantastic Four, and he is one of the strongest characters in Marvel Comics. And he’s actually also one of the smartest. He got his powers by being an ace pilot and the man behind the stick on Marvel-1, the experimental ship designed by Reed Richards.

He had been a pilot in World War II, later revised to the Gulf War in the updated continuity of the Ultimate Comics line. Though it’s often overlooked detail now, his piloting skills were essential to the creation of the Fantastic Four.

9 Poker Player

Comic book fans know the Fantastic Four is a close-knit group, but Ben Grimm is also closely connected to many other heroes. He runs a weekly poker game, in which a variety of heroes join in. He often plays with other New York City local heroes, including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and most of the Avengers.

The poker game continues into the present and he was most recently playing in 2021’s X-Men #2, seen with Gambit and others in a late-night session at the next X-Men treehouse headquarters in NYC.

8 The Yancy Street Gang

Ben Grimm is deeply rooted in New York City, having been born on Yancy St. in Manhattan to Jewish parents. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood that was dominated, in many respects, by the Yancy Street Gang.

This group of young men are sometimes a foil for Ben Grimm but have been mostly allies, a connection to his roots that keeps him close to the neighborhood. He also briefly led the gang, taking over in the first issue of his first ongoing solo series that debuted in 1983.

7 P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Project

In the MCU, Project Pegasus was the secret location of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s study of the Tesseract. In the comics, the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Project (Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States) was a group The Thing joined for a brief time. The group focused on sources of renewable energy and once did house the Cosmic Cube.

The Thing came to the group through Quasar, a powerful cosmic hero yet to appear in the MCU. Together they fought many threats from supervillains, including the Nth Man, who is one of the most powerful magicians in the Marvel Universe.

6 Staying Behind In Secret Wars

Secret Wars was a major crossover event uniting all of Marvel’s heroes in 1985 on a planet called Battleworld. Most of them wanted to get back home as soon as they could, but Ben Grimm chose to stay on the planet. He does so because he discovers that on Battleworld he can willfully change back and forth from his human form to that of The Thing, but only on the strange planet.

He remained there for some time and entered into a strange romance with Tarianna, odd only because she was a figment of his imagination.

5 Mutating Form

In the 1980s, Ben Grimm was more desperate than ever to get back to his human self. Part of this was because he was continuing to mutate. His rocky exterior became sharper and denser, making him in his eyes even more of a monster.

The Thing began to mutate further after exposure to more cosmic radiation. This caused him a great deal of pain and stress, but he would actually return completely back to his human form in Fantastic Four #326 after he’s exposed to one of Reed’s cosmic ray machines.

4 The One Above All

One of the most unusual but heartwarming Fantastic Four stories occurred when The Thing died in 2004 after being exposed to another invention of Reed Richards. Rather than play the death for shock value, it leads to a unique story where the FF travels to what is essentially Heaven and encounters The One Above All.

One of the most powerful Marvel cosmic beings, if not the most powerful, The One Above All appears in the form of legendary artist and Thing co-creator, Jack Kirby. The One Above All restores Ben Grimm back to life at the end of the story arc.

3 Marriage To Alicia Masters

Ben Grimm’s most enduring romance in the comics is to blind school teacher, Alicia Masters. In 2018, the pair finally tied the knot in issue #5 of the series by writer Dan Slott and a number of artists including Esad Ribic, Adam Hughes, Michael Allred, and Aaron Kuder. It was the 650th issue overall in the team’s numerous volumes since 1961.

The two had a rocky relationship on the way to the altar. They began dating early in the run of the Fantastic Four but broke up. Alicia dated Johnny Storm for a long time, but she was eventually revealed to be a Skrull, Lyja, in disguise. The real Alicia was trapped in suspended animation.

2 Human For One Week A Year

More recent comic book runs have established that Ben Grimm becomes human for only one week a year. This is the result of experimentation by Franklin and Valeria Richards, the children of Reed and Sue. Their formula gives Ben his much-needed humanity back, but being a superhero, he’s basically always on call.

One of his more recent sabbaticals from being the Thing coincided with a tirade by the Hulk in The Immortal Hulk #41. This resulted in one of their most brutal fights ever.

1 Almost Immortal

A consequence of the experimental formula that the Richards children created is that The Thing himself is apparently almost immortal. He ages much more slowly in his Thing form, revealed when Reed Richards travels forward in time over 3000 years in Fantastic Four #605.

There, he discovers that Ben Grimm hasn’t aged too much, though he now has a rocky beard and relies on a cane. The suggestion is he could live a very long time, though isn’t exactly immortal like some other Marvel characters.

NEXT: 10 Most Powerful Variants Of Kang The Conqueror From Marvel Comics

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